Okay, I read the David Foster Wallace essay from Vanity Faire about 6 months ago for the first time. It is mentioned again in this piece from CNN from today.

That piece is very good - but the sad truth is he was the perfect profile of who should not cruise - a single guy, traveling alone, prone to severe depression disorder (he eventually comitted suicide a few years ago).

His piece should be given to everyone who is lonely and decides to take a cruise alone, and maybe there would be fewer suicides at sea.

I know this sounds harsh, but some people should not cruise, but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the cruise industry.

This is why I only cruise with my girlfriends. My son & hubby have no interest in cruising, however their eyes and ears perked up when they seen something about the new Disney Dream so this just might be the one to get them out there.

Henry..I'm sure your bride would understand if you went cruising with 2 or 3 of your female or male friends :::::....logic would dictate that the absolute worse time for a man to go on a cruise alone, would be if his girlfriend/wife broke up with him around Valentine's Day...in the early 80's when I first started cruising my running partner (male) and I use to go on alot of cruises and thought nothing of it..these days if 2 non related males share a cabin on a cruise it might be perceived differently

cruising is really a couple's affair..however as the Epic has shown, there is room for singles to cruise by themselves, but unless there are alot of other singles on board, it does cut down on the experience

I don't think there's any doubt that there are people who shouldn't cruise. The style and atmposphere of the entire thing can just be wrong from them.

Most of my cruises have been with my wife, but ther's been a few where I have gone by myself. The dynamic is certainly different, and likely more so for me as a still married man, which might make me a bit less social with the single women onboard. But different still doesn't make it bad.

I guess my response would be, is there any activity that is suited to everyone?

You'd have to hog tie me to get me on a land bus tour, and if you did get me on it, you'd have to shoot me after a day to get me to stop whining.

I enjoying going to Las Vegas for a few days every once in awhile. I have a friend who actually gets depressed watching people gamble their hard earned money, so he hates Vegas.

I just returned from five days at an AI in Cabo San Lucas. It was a family and friends trip that was planned about nine months ago.

I, of course, wanted to do a cruise. I was out voted. Three of the four couples had been on cruises and two of three had no desire to go again.

Their reasons were:
Too much nickle and diming.
Too much regimentation.
Not enough time in port to do anything.
Boring activities
Too crowded.

Even when I compared that the cost of the AI was actually more even if you added in five drinks per person/per day and that you could do everything we did at the AI if you went on a cruise. We also had to make "reservations" for the specialty restaurants so their was regimentation. They still didn't agree. They just didn't like the cruise. They felt that the AI was more open and "fun" than the cruise and someone wasn't bothering you to buy something every five minutes. The other couples had taken a total of three cruises and have no desire to take another even when logic dictated otherwise. BTW: These are not young, party hearty, college kids. They are middle aged, upper middle-class, professionals.

I did have to agree that if you like to lay by a pool or beach, play volleyball and other water games, have a number of drinks per day then an AI is a better choice. I did like the fact that we could lay at the pool and not be packed in like sardines and there was no worry about the cost of a drink. However, that got old really fast. Five days was more than enough for me. Any more and I would have been bored stiff. Heck, my wife and I went to Costco for something to do because we didn't want to lay in the sun any more.

It all comes down to what people prefer and what people perceive. I personally feel that if main stream cruise lines would forget about the $399 fares and become more all inclusive they would attract more people. Yes, the price would be higher and many people would complain about buying other people's liquor but I do believe in the long run they would attract more people who, in the end, are willing to spend more for their vacation.

Take care,
Mike

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